ELECTORAL LAW.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 201, 23 August 1905, Page 3

ELECTORAL LAW.

—-— _ THE -JEEH DUf6 BILLtBy Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WRLLINGTO-V, this day. In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, »ir Joseph Ward moved tbe second reading of tbe Electoral Bill, a eonaolidatiou measure of 233 clauses, the new provisions in which have already been sunimarLse-L Sir -Joseph briefly explained these, the most important being tbe creation of the of-ac-es of chief and deputy electoral offices | (the latter only in the event of absences or illness of the chief officer). It was,! he said, proposed to have separate re- j gistrars and returning officers for each [ electorate, with the proviso that one man 1 may bold both offices. Every employer J is to give his employees tin opportunityto enrol, and eniptoy.es must have rea- 1 sonable opportunity to vote without any deduction as is made at present ""in some j factories, where a half-boiiday is granted on election day. He pointed ont that! the provisions that non-voters should ba.' struck off the rool was not included in i the bill. Names would remain on the j roll tiil removed by death or transfer, j but the registrar would- have a copy of j the returning officers roll, and from I this he would be able to discover which j among the non-voters bad died ov left \ the district. Tbe excess number of names j would thus be cut down. Persons fail-: ing lo deliver a signed claim to the' ir-turn:*-- officer are under a penalty of { £20. teamen may vote as absent voters, j for whom the provision is made that they may vote at any booth, for one of the candidates for the constituency in j which they reside. The voting paper to j he immediately forwarded to the return- f ing officer of the district. All electors' \ rights, other than seamen, are eano?lled-j the previous provision including shear- j ers. commercial travellers, and' others, j Sin- Joseph stated that he intended to | move an additional clause providing I that voting papers on the iiee-isicjs; j question shall be supplied to seamen! and absent voters. The provision that! voters may be enrolled on the day of the [ election was greeted with dissent, and j the Minister stated that there were dif- j Acuities in the way, and be would be! guided by the decision of the House. Un-; der th? existing arrangements there was, j ,he believed, less necessity for the su»- j ; g-estion than there had been in tbe past. I Extra care was provided in tbe countinar I of the papers. Each would be • I numbered with consecutive numbers j | from one onwards, by means of a ma- '■ I chine, a number of which had been im-1 j ported for the occasion. The bill mads \ j provision for the safe custody of ballot j j papers from the time of printing till! ! finally disposed of. The influencing of j | voters, printing, and distributing mock i | ballot papers, and public demonstration ! was prohibited, a penalty of £20 being i I provided. Sir Joseph War, stated tbat i j the amendments were intended to se- j I cure uniformity throughout the colony, j !to do away with abuses, and to give! { every person in the colony the right to j vote at the elections. The claim for en- j i rolment was entirely altered. It now j ! did away with the necessity for trans- ] j fers. the form being set out in a series j 1' of questions, includim? "'Arc you enrol- I led in any other electoral district." AJ number of voting machines were now; \ in the market, and he thought there was |no reason why their use should not be I utilised as a trial, say, at municipal. j elections. He would submit proposals jto this effect, but it would not be a i>ro- ! per thing to allow this to be done at so j important a matter as a general election. Mr. Hawkins: Try it on the dog. Sir Joseph: Yes. Mr. Massey dec-Ured tbat tbe bill was an illustration of tho waste of time which occurred in connection -with the business of tbe House. Last session a whole day was spent in debating a similar bill, two or three nights were spent in committee, and then the biD was dropped, the whole time being "wasted. Some of the provisions of the bill met 1 with bis approval. To others hedissent- ; cd. He declared that on the readjast- | ment of boundaries, after tbe censes was i performed in an unsatisfactory manner. j community of interest not being considered at all. be approved of the es- ; tablishment of an electoral tLspartment. i and expressed the hope that its officers ; would have the right to appoint returnj ing and deputy returning officers. It \>as . be declared, wrong that men hold- | ing strong political view 3 »hodd act in iso important a position. In support of | his contention he quoted a case, where j fourteen votes were recorded, tho return ( showing that thirteen went for one man | while three residents were prepared to I swear that they voted for the minority I candidate. Mr. Massey strongly opI posed the clause providing that any one j not on the roll, but making a declaraj tion that he was entitled to ba en- • roiled, should be -permitted to vote. The j absent-voter -system was useful, and | properly safeguarded would be very coni venient to many of the people of the coll ony. Tbe boundaries of the native elee- ! torates required amendment. Tbe mem- ; ber representing the Southern Maori disI trict had only 2000 constituents, •while the Western District member v had 17,000. A division of these electorates should be made. There should be complete reorganisation of the native electoral arrangements. The debate was continued throughout the evening on general lines. Objections were raised to tbe bill, on: the .ground that it did not provide for tbe automatic purging of tbe roll. Sir Joseph Ward replied at- midnight. He stated that members seemed inclined to be suspicious on the point of the purging of the roll. They overlooked, however, that with the proposed electoral department there would be a marked roll in tbe possession of each .electoral officer, showing every person who bad not voted. Thess marked rolls would be sent to the chief electoral officer, who would see that certain electors bad not exercised their rights, and would asG-T----tain the cause from the local registrars for the preparation of the nest roll. The bill was read a second time on the voices, and the House rose at 12.35 a.m.